Opening Ceremony (Q7249)
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Opening Ceremony is a fashion house from BOF.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Opening Ceremony |
Opening Ceremony is a fashion house from BOF. |
Statements
2002
founder
When Humberto Leon opened Chifa with his family in 2021, they asked him to be the restaurant’s waiter. For six months, he was the only waitstaff at the Eagle Rock eatery. “During the pandemic it was how I was going out and meeting people,” he said. His experience working the front of house inspired a food-centric fall 2022 Opening Ceremony collection of dietary restriction T-shirts and supersized vegetable decor. The bright colors, peppy mood, and easygoing silhouettes reflect Leon’s vibe right now: Happy, joyous, sunny, and very L.A.But there’s more to the story: Nearly 90% of this collection, he estimates, is made from jersey. The “cable-knit” sets? Actually patched jersey. The fleece blazers and mohair-looking argyle knits? Also made from treated jersey. Moving to Italian factories as a part of the New Guards Group has done wonders for the fabric development and finesse of Opening Ceremony ready-to-wear. Still after a catch-up with Leon, one thing is missing: Opening Ceremony’s special sauce. Bringing people together was the brand’s forte, through its stores, events, and performances. Maybe next season will be a dinner party at Chifa?
22 January 2022
Since its founding 19 years ago, Opening Ceremony has operated as the connective tissue between distinct American scenes. You could find Chlöe Sevigny or Solange Knowles at its Howard Street store on any given day, alongside Jonah Hill and Walt Cassidy and Sasha Velour and the owners of James Veloria, and, if you were lucky, Rihanna. When its store closed, some New Yorkers wondered: Where would they find their people again?But as founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon reported on a video chat, they’ve never felt closer to their friends, collaborators, and communities. Last month they held an event at Chifa, Leon’s L.A. eatery, to celebrate an Herb Ritts collaboration that united the teenage punk band The Linda Lindas with Kim Gordon. Lim was beaming about having made the intro. Leon was camera-off, but he sounded like he was smiling too.Their spring 2022 collection is a happy mash-up of all their friends and references, presented in a very “now” assortment of sweater vests, pleated skirts, pooling jeans, and fluffy Insta-friendly knits. Li Kuanzhen, the Taiwanese illustrator, created drawings of OC supergirls, from Karen O to Natasha Lyonne (and of course Sevigny and Knowles), which were lasered onto jeans and printed onto button-downs. Kuanzhen also created an entire English alphabet inspired by Chinese brush art that appeared as single letters on totes and accessories and as a devoré on silk skirts with girlish white underpinnings. The label is not only a resource for what’s cool and of the moment, but also a platform for Asian cultures and a place to celebrate their heritage. Leon said a denim cheongsam is his favorite piece this season.Even without the OC store, the duo have managed to keep a finger on the trends. Their new lineup includes many pieces Gen Z shoppers will appreciate—oversized tees, textural knits, pastel polos. Do some pieces like a triangle pocket or an intrecciato-inspired cardigan look a littletoomuch like what the kids are loving? Maybe, but Lim and Leon’s gift is the ability to muddle up highbrow, lowbrow, friends, and family into an eclectic new mix. This collection does it well.
2 July 2021
Since its founding 19 years ago, Opening Ceremony has operated as the connective tissue between distinct American scenes. You could find Chlöe Sevigny or Solange Knowles at its Howard Street store on any given day, alongside Jonah Hill and Walt Cassidy and Sasha Velour and the owners of James Veloria, and, if you were lucky, Rihanna. When its store closed, some New Yorkers wondered: Where would they find their people again?But as founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon reported on a video chat, they’ve never felt closer to their friends, collaborators, and communities. Last month they held an event at Chifa, Leon’s L.A. eatery, to celebrate an Herb Ritts collaboration that united the teenage punk band The Linda Lindas with Kim Gordon. Lim was beaming about having made the intro. Leon was camera-off, but he sounded like he was smiling too.Their spring 2022 collection is a happy mash-up of all their friends and references, presented in a very “now” assortment of sweater vests, pleated skirts, pooling jeans, and fluffy Insta-friendly knits. Li Kuanzhen, the Taiwanese illustrator, created drawings of OC supergirls, from Karen O to Natasha Lyonne (and of course Sevigny and Knowles), which were lasered onto jeans and printed onto button-downs. Kuanzhen also created an entire English alphabet inspired by Chinese brush art that appeared as single letters on totes and accessories and as a devoré on silk skirts with girlish white underpinnings. The label is not only a resource for what’s cool and of the moment, but also a platform for Asian cultures and a place to celebrate their heritage. Leon said a denim cheongsam is his favorite piece this season.Even without the OC store, the duo have managed to keep a finger on the trends. Their new lineup includes many pieces Gen Z shoppers will appreciate—oversized tees, textural knits, pastel polos. Do some pieces like a triangle pocket or an intrecciato-inspired cardigan look a littletoomuch like what the kids are loving? Maybe, but Lim and Leon’s gift is the ability to muddle up highbrow, lowbrow, friends, and family into an eclectic new mix. This collection does it well.
2 July 2021
Opening Ceremony, the brand Humberto Leon and Carol Lim built into a global commissary of cool, was sold to Italy’s New Guards Group last January, about a month before COVID shut down the industry. It’s been even longer since we’ve seen a collection from the duo. The sale of the business and the shuttering of their pioneering Howard Street store was a blow for New York fashion—the first of many last year—but it worked to Leon and Lim’s advantage. It gave them the runway to reconsider the meaning of OC, their values, and how they want to convey both in the future. Fall 2020 marks their return.Philosophically, they’re the same designers they were almost 20 years ago—they opened the OC store store circa 2002 when they were in their twenties. “We wanted to be a brand that was non-judgmental and open for all,” Leon says. “Before gender-neutral, or any of the terms used today for those kinds of clothes, we were always about that. And we’ve never been shy of letting people know how we feel politically or what our stance is on world issues.” In all those ways, they were a generation ahead of their time.Operationally, though, Opening Ceremony 2.0 is a different proposition. To start, the label is being produced at New Guard’s Italian factories with locally sourced fabrics, which means the clothes’ quality has gone up while prices have stayed reasonably democratic. Last year’s conversations around the seasonality of deliveries and department store-dictated sales cycles resonated with Leon and Lim, too. Ditto the sustainability of the fashion show system.“How do we create something that has a longer-lasting effect than a fashion show? How do we entertain people? We’ve always thought that way,” Lim said. They famously collaborated with Spike Jonze on a play for spring 2015 and with the choreographer Justin Peck on a ballet for spring 2017. With live events currently off the table, they’re eyeing September for a newsy New York Fashion Week comeback and in the meantime they’re using their resources to promote new photography talent. Leon name-checked Rob Kulisek, who is based in Berlin and shot this lookbook, and Zhong Lin, who is Malaysian, and shot the brand’s spring 2021 images, to be revealed on OC’s e-commerce site shortly.The fall collection was also informed by the limitations of lockdown. They draped pieces using fitted sheets and asked Bráulio Amado, who’s done artwork for Robyn and Roisin Murphy, to contribute prints of furniture pieces with personalities.
Late last year, Leon opened a restaurant in L.A.’s Eagle Rock neighborhood with his sister and brother-in-law, modeled after the one his mom ran in Peru before the family immigrated to the U.S. Leon is the chief marketing officer and, unofficially, the chief decorator, and the wallpaper, which he designed in collaboration with Calico, has been transformed into a jacquard here. “It’s about embracing everything that’s around you,” Leon said. Both designers have young families and have been homeschooling their kids during the pandemic, which might explain the more whimsical aspects of these clothes.Will he be designing Opening Ceremony stores in the future? “Definitely we see OC stores,” Leon said. “It will exist online and brick-and-mortar and be a place that continually gives a platform to nurture the youth. Always.”
12 February 2021
After a brief hiatus from the New York Fashion Week schedule, Opening Ceremony is ready to unveil its latest project. It’s not a party, play, or performance, but it’s poised to be every bit as impactful. Humberto Leon and Carol Lim used the energy, money, and time they would have otherwise spent to photograph their spring 2020 collection on a cast of Mexican and Mexican-American actors, artists, activists, and creatives. Leon likened the multiday shoot that brought together Jessica Alba, chef Daniela Soto-Innes, dog whisperer Cesar Millan, drag star Valentina, and immigration activist Cristina Martinez, among others, to making a film. (He would know: he directed a short at Kenzo starring Milla Jovovich.)The look book and forthcoming videos are the latest in OC’s Year of Mexico, which has brought Mexican designers and crafts to the shop floor. The choice to celebrate Mexico at a time when the “leader” of the “free” world wants to erect a wall on the border is clearly a political one. Underneath the serape-colored separates and big, ruffled blouses, this is, after all, a very real fight over who gets to call where home.This collection and shoot also mark a homecoming for Lim and Leon, who, earlier this year, ended an eight-year contract with Kenzo as creative directors to tend to the brand they built. Their renewed focus on OC has allowed the feelings of multiculturalism, playfulness, and quirky artistry that they built into their stores and collections to shine through more brightly.With Mexico as a design reference, Leon said this season’s goal was to “make a collection that feels real and wearable.” No big logos, no super-cute prints. Instead: spiced-up essentials that come with a touch of gawkiness, like cobalt knit sets with beaded fringe or workwear jackets trimmed in quinceañera ruffles. Being a retailer allows the duo the luxury of knowing what sells, and so popular items from around the market are recut with the OC eye—see this season’s sheer layering pieces in electric colors and a unisex cashmere capsule that ties together pastels with neon accents. There are also a number of collaborations within the collection, like swaggy pastel suiting from J. Press, leopard-print Dickies, and a three-way mash-up with a sports brand and an A-list athlete that is under deep embargo until the athlete wears the pieces to a game this fall. The diverse cast in the look book proves that these clothes will work across ages and aesthetic sensibilities.
Sure, that’s kind of a capitalist takeaway—we figured you out; shop here now!—but it’s also one that establishes every Opening Ceremony store as a place where all people are welcome.
5 November 2019
Opening Ceremony has been doing some soul searching. Last season was a celebration of queerness and the LGBTQIA community drawn in part from cofounder Humberto Leon’s own journey. This season, Leon and Carol Lim are exploring the Asian identity. Their lookbook stars a diaspora of Asian icons: composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, designer Anna Sui, actress Greta Lee, writer Jenny Han, chef Angela Dimayuga, playwright David Henry Hwang, artist Chella Man, man-about-town Waris Ahluwalia, and more. As Leon tells it, this is a community of creatives that inspires and has inspired team OC for years—and it’s not just notables. Leon’s mother, Wendy, makes a star turn, as does Cynthia Leung, the fashion publicist who introduced Lim to Leon at UC Berkeley.The clothes are some of OC’s best of late. There’s a paring down of logos and superfluous flash and a revival of the things OC does best: eclectic, happy everyday wear with some heart. The heart is literal in a sweet print that appears on puffers and tops, but is still felt in a range of shimmery, sequin skirts and silk dresses inspired by Hong Kong actresses Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung. Leon watched Mui and Cheung on-screen growing up and translated their effusive, daring style into smart, joyous clothing that epitomizes the OC way of life. He named the actresses’ 1984 duet “缘分” (“Fate”) as a favorite track. Apt, fate was smiling on OC this season.Rather than stage a big presentation to mark this coming together of Asian talent, Leon and Lim instead did what they do best: They threw a party—or rather, three parties. Under the title “Pig Out,” the pair hosted a tripartite Chinese New Year celebration, bringing together three New York City nights under one roof at Hotel 50 Bowery: Bubble_T, Gush, and Glam. There were snacks from H Mart, Tsingtao beer, and a lot of dancing—that is, if you managed to make it from party to party via the crowded elevators. At the event, donations could be made to MOCA and Apex for Youth, both of which do outreach to preserve New York’s Chinatown. What other brand could execute such a multi-platform experience, collection, casting, and a coming together of community, and make it, you know, fun?
11 February 2019
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage . . . fun? She’s a strange bedfellow to fashion types, most of whom spent today sitting outside in the pouring rain at several outdoor shows. Opening Ceremony, as codesigner Humberto Leon said before tonight’s event, is about “celebration,” and lately, Leon and fellow designer Carol Lim have been trying to one-up themselves with their sorta-seasonal productions, taking us to the ballet, and then to Disneyland, and now to a makeshift drag club in the basement of New York’s (Le) Poisson Rouge. Sasha Velour, the winner ofRupaul’s Drag Raceseason nine, was the brand’s collaborator on the project, conceptualizing the event alongside Leon and Lim. In vampy houndstooth, Velour took the stage to contextualize everything we would see tonight. “It’s easy to express yourself in private,” she began, “but it takes a community to express yourself in public.”Here was a community coming together to celebrate the wonders of drag. Yes, celebrities were in attendance, as wide-ranging as Troye Sivan and Nicki Minaj, but more important were the models and performers, who were entirely comprised of LGBTQIA+ individuals. Most of the crew was also a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and so was much of the audience. That’s not the norm, even in fashion. (Lim noted that Velour, despite being the victor of an Emmy Award–winning competition show, had never been invited to a fashion show.) Leon, a gay man who frequented Los Angeles’s drag clubs, is now paying it forward. He’s working to raise up and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, both through his brand’s events and through charitable donations—tonight’s show also had a raffle to benefit the Transgender Law Center.Throughout the two-hour-ish affair, several queens with dramatically varying styles of drag performed. Jiggly Caliente got everyone hot and bothered with her dancehall lip-synch, West Dakota gave us sheer emotion, Shea Couleé upended the expectations of pop choreography, and Velour brought the house down with a rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “Twice.” People in the audience screamed and cried. And then we came full circle from last season’s Mickey Mouse show to a Mickey Mouse Club—emphasis on theclub—one. Out strutted Aguilera herself as the audience shrieked and wept.That’s a lot to take in, saying nothing of the clothes. The queens were given OC fabrics to make custom looks from, with most fighting over the crystal net, according to Velour.
An early part of the performance was more like a traditional runway show, with groups of models coming out in OC looks and serving it down a catwalk. Leon and Lim said they were inspired by vacations they had been on together and the spirit of a fantastical journey for their clothing this season. That anywhere-but-here mentality resulted in Easter Island heads on a knit and ditsy florals on a range of floaty summer frocks. Honestly, the most surprising part of the whole show might have been a section of entirely black garments—like, who goes to Opening Ceremony for something black? Or maybe the most surprising thing was that this was a fashion show no one came to for the clothes. Opening Ceremony can put on a production to wow the pants off even the most black-hearted cynic; what if its garments did the same?
10 September 2018
Last night in Disneyland’s Toon Town, some fashion history was made. Yes, the Opening Ceremony runway show might have been the second-ever fashion show in Disneyland, but the sweet mother-daughter event that preceded it over 40 years ago was surely nothing like what went down on Main Street yesterday. Models clomped down the catwalk in Opening Ceremony x Buffalo platforms, a marching band grooved with LED drumsticks, Mickey Mouse himself came out mid-show, vogueing alongside Minnie, both of whom wore custom Opening Ceremony outfits. By the confetti-filled finale, it was impossible to stifle a smile.Opening Ceremony is, of course, very accustomed to wowing people. Five years ago, its first fashion show featured models escorted down the catwalk by luxury sports cars. In the time since, OC’s fashion events have ranged from the traditional runway format to increasingly abstract stagings, like a play or a political pageant or a professional ballet, all which could lead you to ask: What’s the point of these Opening Ceremony spectacles?Rather than tout Opening Ceremony’s new wares, the purpose of an OC performance is to make a viewer consider fashion beyond the traditional see-it, want-it, wear-it transformation narrative. OC has the luxury of being able to put its clothing second to its message because of its enormous retail operation. In its global stores and online, it collects data about what’s selling, data that informs its ready-to-wear collections and allows every season to be almost exactly on-trend. The Spring offering hit many of fashion’s biggest notes right now: crafty knitwear, sport-inspired graphics, utilitarian jackets, cargo pants, and one big, patched parka in mustard yellow. Because the clothes are always so on-the-nose, they can almost play a supporting role to whatever else is going on.That worked well last season when the tenderness of Mia Wasikowska and Lakeith Stanfield’s dance performance was so well complemented by a collection of collegiate tartans and sweet, womanly dresses, and it worked again at Disneyland. Something about the models’ tied-up anoraks, crochet bucket hats, and glitter Birkenstocks—another new collab—worn with wooly socks made each look like a lost tourist who had wandered off Main Street and become the star in her or his own fashion show.
Watching them circle Toon Town’s central fountain, some with their hair piled into Minnie-esque buns, it was easy to remember the sheer childlike joy of being a superfan, of loving something so much that you put on your best fanny pack and wait in line for an hour or more. That sense of unbridled joy is rare in “times like these.”By the end of the show, models had done a quick change to reappear in OC’s Disney collaboration pieces. Prairie dresses, faux-fur coats, and carpenter pants were all printed with Mickey’s likeness to celebrate his 90th birthday. It was, like the main collection, a distillation of trends including offset silkscreens and patched-together knits, topped off with a soupçon of exuberant glee. The ability to transcend cynicism and make viewers feel joy through fashion is Opening Ceremony’s special gift. Whether you’re going to buy a Mickey knit or not, you can’t deny the magic that happened in the Magic Kingdom last night.
8 March 2018
After seasons of unabashed activism on the runway and off, it was as if turning toward their home state of California infused Humberto Leon and Carol Lim’s Fall ’17 Opening Ceremony collection with a new levity. Presenting for the very first time in Los Angeles, as part of IMG’s Made event series (post-Moschino, but before Wiz Khalifa), the new setting proved that the OG OC inspiration remains the west. The collection, which begins arriving in stores today, read like a travel diary through the Southwest. Mining Georgia O’Keeffe’s works, the pair brought their currency of cool to archetypal items: Yolked shirting felt right paired back to elevated picnic plaids. Focus remained on the details, with tiered prints shown layered and a heavy use of ruched hemming lending the traditional motifs a still softness. Acid-trippy dyed denim pieces looked great shown with geometric and gradient knits, near-metallic velvets, and richly patterned outerwear. This was not OC’s familiar streetwear uniform. Most striking was the palette, which read like the Southwest sky. Taking a cue from the paintings of Ken Price, they leaned on an unusual but pleasing combination of pinks and greens.No OC show would be complete without an element of the experiential. Two models, who at first crossed paths rather brusquely early on in their walks, returned to the center of the massive set and were joined by competing groups of “models” who fought choreographed martial arts sequences, tumbling, high-kicking, and combatting each other to the end. The dueling sides continued until there was only one man left standing: RZA on the mic.
10 June 2017